Astroworld and the trickiness of tragedy blame games
Social media doesn’t always help us make sense of horrific events.
Facebook’s new Meta logo is a graphic trope that was trendy in 2008
The Facebook rebrand to Meta brings with it a new stock symbol , new social media handles , and heavy critiques of the company’s new logo. Graphic design critics were predictably abuzz as soon as CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the wordmark for Meta, Facebook’s new corporate brand, at the tail end of his 80-minute keynote at the Connect conference on Oct 28. “The word ‘meta’ comes from the Greek word [μετά] meaning ‘beyond,’” he explained, revealing an animated symbol that resembles an infinity symbol. “For me, it symbolizes that there is always more to build.” The logo has already been compared to a pretzel, a Pringle chip, a thigh master , IBM’s design thinking loop , Microsoft Visual Studio’s old avatar , and inevitably, a phallus .
Source: Facebook’s new Meta logo is a graphic trope that was trendy in 2008
Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company
Moments before announcing Facebook is changing its name to “Meta” and detailing the company’s “metaverse” plans during a Facebook Connect presentation on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg said “some people will say this isn’t a time to focus on the future,” referring to the massive, ongoing scandal plaguing his company relating to the myriad ways Facebook has made the world worse. “I believe technology can make our lives better.”
Source: Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company
⚠️ Caution! ⚠️ These emoji mean different things in different countries
Emoji are practically a universal part of language now, with chat conversations liberally sprinkled with little pictograms. But just because they’re widely adopted doesn’t mean they’re fully understood.
Source: ⚠️ Caution! ⚠️ These emoji mean different things in different countries
Streaming Video Betting Big on Legalized Sports Gambling
Live sports and gambling have a long co-dependent relationship, which is expanding beyond casinos to over-the-top video. The new field of dreams for incremental billions in revenue began in 2018 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal anti-sports-gambling law.
Source: Streaming Video Betting Big on Legalized Sports Gambling
Squid Game: the real debt crisis shaking South Korea that inspired the hit TV show
Squid Game adds to other recent South Korean screen productions, most notably the 2020 Oscar-winning film Parasite, in providing a sharp critique of the socio-economic inequality that plagues the lives of many in South Korea. More specifically, it speaks to the deepening household debt crisis affecting the lower and middle classes.
Source: Squid Game: the real debt crisis shaking South Korea that inspired the hit TV show
Lesbian gamers say Twitch is failing them
Twitch has been widely criticized for an ongoing scandal involving “hate raids” aimed mostly at its BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ users. These attacks are carried out by bots programmed to spam streamers’ chats with offensive messages. The conditions became so bad that Twitch users started a campaign — #TwitchDoBetter — to push for change, and at one point arranged a digital “protest” where streamers boycotted the platform in solidarity with hate raid victims.
What is the metaverse, and do I have to care?
In recent months you may have heard about something called the metaverse. Maybe you’ve read that the metaverse is going to replace the internet. Maybe we’re all supposed to live there. Maybe Facebook (or Epic, or Roblox , or dozens of smaller companies) is trying to take it over.
How Istanbul became the Silicon Valley of the mobile gaming industry
In March 2021, six of the Apple App Store’s top ten mobile games in the U.S. came from Turkish studios, including Basketball Arena, which asks players to steal the ball from opponents in head-to-head matches and go for slam dunks; the self-styled “super fun running game” Bounce Big, where players run around, collect items, improve the size of their backsides, and launch off pads (the winning player twerks at the end of each level); Deep Clean Inc. 3D, in which users scrub crusty iPhones and toilets; and Jelly Dye, in which players, well, inject dye into a jelly. And Istanbul has become a magnet for up-and-coming game developers.
Source: How Istanbul became the Silicon Valley of the mobile gaming industry
‘Squid Game’ Is, Unfortunately, the Perfect Show for Our Current Dystopia
The Korean survivor-game series skewers capitalism, chance, and base human instinct in a brutalizing modern parable. Naturally, it’s on track to be Netflix’s biggest hit in history.
Source: ‘Squid Game Is,’ Unfortunately, the Perfect Show for Our Current Dystopia
Revolutionary type: Meet the designer decolonizing Chinese fonts
In 2020, type designer Julius Hui flew back to his native Hong Kong. The previous year, he’d quit his “too comfortable and steady” job at Monotype, one of the world’s largest type foundries, and moved to Munich. Now, forced to head home by the pandemic after only six months, he found himself with little paid work, but finally able pursue a passion project that he’d been sitting on for more than six years: Ku Mincho, a radical rethinking of Chinese type.
Source: Revolutionary type: Meet the designer decolonizing Chinese fonts
Workers in the Global South are making a living playing the blockchain game Axie Infinity
Part Pokémon Go, part NFT economy, the online game has replaced regular jobs for many players
Source: Workers in the Global South are making a living playing the blockchain game Axie Infinity
Netflix in-app gaming initiative starts in Poland with ‘Stranger Things’
Netflix on Thursday sent up a trial balloon for its fledgling push into the mobile gaming market with the rollout of two Android games based on its popular “Stranger Things” series. Announced in a tweet from the official Netflix Poland account, the titles, “Stranger Things: 1984” and “Stranger Things 3,” are available to access within the official Netflix app for Android.”It’s very, very early days and we’ve got a lot of work to do in the months ahead, but this is the first step,” Netflix Geeked said in a follow-up tweet referencing the launch.
Source: Netflix in-app gaming initiative starts in Poland with ‘Stranger Things’
Cash for kills: why are people paying for coaches to get better at video games?
A thriving new industry, matching people with pro gamers who advise and counsel, has exploded during the pandemic
Source: Cash for kills: why are people paying for coaches to get better at video games?
Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?
“Facebook launches VR remote work app, calling it a step to the ‘metaverse’” — NBC News headline, Aug. 19, 2021
“Do you ever think …” a voice said from what sounded like Greg’s right. Greg turned his cartoon avatar to look in the direction of the voice, “ … that maybe the Metaverse is a stupid waste of everyone’s time?
Source: Opinion | Do you ever think … that maybe the virtual-reality office is stupid?
How Has Social Media Impacted Our Mental Health?
The general consensus among the terminally online would seem to be that the internet is a miserable place just barely made tolerable by the idiots and well-meaning naifs whose screw-ups at least provide something to ridicule. But is there a scientific basis for this generalized feeling? How has social media actually impacted mental health, per the research? For this week’s Giz Asks, we reached out to a number of experts to find out.
More Is More: The End of Minimalism
The internet doesn’t take a shift like this lying down. Over the past year, a new home-related polarization has also erupted online, with several publications pitting the decor styles against each other: “Minimalism Is Dead. Meet Maximalism,” crowed one Vox headline while Harper’s Bazaar asked, “Minimalism vs Maximalism: Which Is More Stylish?”
Why Is the Internet Up in Arms About a Font?
On Thursday, Twitter updated the design of its app and website. Some users were baffled by a change to the “follow” and “unfollow” buttons that could lead one to mix them up. Others took issue with the new Twitter font, Chirp. While the social network boasted that Chirp is designed to be more accessible and amplify “the fun and irreverence of a Tweet,” many tweets complained that not only is it harder to read, users are complaining of headaches .
An ode to my dead, decaying Animal Crossing island
Where last year I was all about growing plants and facilitating life, this year my video game lockdown obsession has been flesh-eating monsters. Bit of a departure from Animal Crossing, I’ll grant you, but I’ve really gone all in with the whole rotting corpse vibe.
Instead of joyfully handing villagers dumbbells or weird outfits, I’ve been playing Telltale’s Walking Dead games, scavenging for cans of food between shotgun shots to zombie faces. I’ve been deep-diving into the pop culture annals for zombie content, from Evil Dead to The Last of Us — and even a dab of Plants vs. Zombies, which is a little too telling, if you ask me.
We are certainly in a very different headspace in the year 2021.
Advertising fuels $1.34bn piracy market
Online criminals who offer stolen movies, TV shows, games, and live events through websites and apps are reaping $1.34 billion (€1.14bn) in annual advertising revenues – including from some of the most iconic global companies.